InsaneJournal

Sephiroth woke from a sound sleep without giving any outward signs of waking. When he had been in the labs, and later Wutai, it had become essential to appear to be unaware of your surroundings to better surprise the individual that had snuck up on you. He had felt someone move from being on top of his right arm and under his left arm to being, well... still under his left arm but sort of leaning against his right arm. He also realized quite suddenly that his right hand had wrapped itself in someone's hair during the night. Sephiroth decided to risk opening his eyes since he was nearly positive that someone was awake and could inform him of the situation that he had been put into. His eyes opened to see pale pink cloth wrapped around a hip almost directly in front of his eyes. He moved his eyes up and up until he could see the face of the woman sitting next to him. “Miss Gainsborough,” he murmured. “What is the current situation?”

“Actually, I have no idea, I've been waiting for everyone to wake up. Tifa and Zack are still sound asleep, Cloud is awake, though.” She murmured back in a soft voice.

“I found you guys in my bed last night and when I poked Zack to see if he was real, he tugged me down onto the bed. I then invited Tifa onto the bed because, well, I figured, 'what's one more?'” Strife explained quietly.

“Neither of you know what is going on?”

Both gave negative responses and the cadet said, “I was sure that there was no-one there when I got up but when I got back, the three of you were lying all curled up and stuff. It was very surprising. 'specially since you were all very dead before last night...”

Aeris nodded and went 'mmhmm.'

Sephiroth, unsure as to whether he had heard Strife's mutter properly, carefully took his arm off of Aeris' lap and cleared out his ears. Not finding anything blocking the passageways of his ears, which would have explained him hallucinating such a strange comment, he ran what he thought he had heard back through his head. Then he said, “Excuse me? We are supposed to be what?”

He heard the blond shift and Zack mutter in a calming manner as if soothing a nightmare. The boy waited until the black haired man had gone back into a deeper sleep before going, “Ummmm... Crap, forgot how good Zack's and your hearing was... Do you think you can wait to hear what I know?”

“Yes,” Sephiroth stated.

“...Waitasec, Aeris, what do you mean 'Mmhmm'?” Both individuals awaited Miss Gainsborough's response to the younger's question.

“I know, I remembered. So, I agree with you as to what we should be.” She smiled almost angelically. He remembered what Zack would do after smiling that type of smile and immediately became worried.

“Miss Gainsborough, what are you planning?”

“Aeris, Sephiroth, call me Aeris, and Cloud would like to be called Cloud, not Strife or whatever you've been thinking him as. Especially since we've slept in the same bed together, and shared boyfriends.” She stated this calmly and happily. The silver haired man stares at her in bewilderment, “Oh, and who says I'm planning anything?” As she asked this a mischievous twinkle entered into her eyes and his worry grew exponentially.

The spiky haired blond snorted at Aeris' question and the General responded, “You appear to be much like Zack. When he had that look things would get very interesting for a while around the offices. He was a very ingenious prankster, Miss... I mean, Aeris.” He quickly changed his mode of address when she gave him an extremely pointed look.

“Well, I must say that I occasionally provided Zack ammunition, specifically, the edible ammunition, like the pies and the syrups and the cakes and all. And what I'm planning is a secret, I refuse to have either of you stop me before I put it into motion.” She grinned and winked at the very tall man. “It just wouldn't do what it was supposed to if stopped in the middle of its implementation. Plus, I think that both of you will enjoy the effects, even if it seems a bit odd at the start.” The green eyed girl then poked at the general, “I think you need to sit up and see how much seven and a half years have changed your cadet. You don't seem anything like I remember you being two and a half years ago. You're, what, twenty-five? Thirty tops? Cloud is twenty-three now.”

“His cadet?!” Cloud squeaked at Aeris.

“What do you mean, 'Cloud is twenty-three'?” A rarely heard confused note entered Sephiroth's voice as he levered himself up on the bed and began trying to extricate his right hand from the tangle it had made with the spiky black hair of his best friend.

Aeris giggled at the two of them and helped the General get his hand out of her boyfriend's hair. “You're missing a few years Sephiroth, either that or you just haven't remembered them yet. You... Look younger than what you had the last time Cloud and I saw you, so I'm figuring that the clock was turned back for you. I'm hoping it's the former rather than the latter, it'll probably make some things easier for a few of us.” She said the last parts thoughtfully and took the last tangle out leaving the silver-haired man free.

Sephiroth levered himself off of the bed and silently padded around to the other side of the bed to look down upon the man that had been, and to his mind still was, his cadet. Instead of seeing the shortish, gangly little boy that had been dragged around by his best friend and eventually wormed his way into Sephiroth's heart to rest right beside Zack's place that he'd expected, he saw the man that Cloud had become. While comparing the two images he had when one of them was lying down was difficult, he did begin cataloging the differences he could clearly notice. Cloud's eyes were calmer, more confident, glowing, and sort of reminded Sephiroth of a combination of his own and Zack's. They still had that brilliant blue hue that had captivated him, but were now even more alluring than before. The blond man's hair was a little shorter, which had tamed his spikes a little but they were still as gravity defying as they were when he'd been a child. “Does your hair still stay upright when it rains?” Sephiroth asked Cloud curiously.

Aeris giggled at the question while the silver haired man watched in fascination as the blond blushed. He coughed and responded, “Um... yes, I can't believe you remembered that...” He said in embarrassment.

A rare smile appeared on the ex-General's face, “Of course I do, I remember a lot about both you and Zacharae.” The tall man continued to look at what differences seven and a half years had wrought on his once young cadet. The man had gotten far more muscular and toned, yet they were of a swords-man's physique and not that of a weight lifter or those hulking idiots who thought the bigger you were the better you fought. Sephiroth knew that Cloud could probably move fast if he had to. The man was also taller and tanner than he'd been at sixteen. The silver haired man glanced at his best friend and saw that he also looked older than he had when he'd last seen him prior to falling asleep on that sea-worthy vessel to Nibelheim. The young woman in Cloud's arms stirred and Sephiroth realized that it was Tifa Lockeheart, who'd cut her hair in the intervening years and had grown up from the picture that Cloud had shown him on that boat. He watched in a bit of curiosity as the blue-eyed young man's arms tightened around the woman, not out of fear of himself, which he had slightly expected, but to... to... protect him from the possibility that Miss Lockeheart would try to attack him. Cloud, for the boy turned man was experienced enough now to be his equal, gave him an apologetic look before focusing his attention on the woman in his arms.

(AN: It looks incomplete because this'll go directly into Tifa's as soon as she stops being stubborn and talks to me.)